Patna HC to deliver verdict on caste survey today

PATNA: The Patna high court on Wednesday completed the hearing and reserved the verdict on the three PILs challenging the ongoing caste survey in Bihar.
A division bench of Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Prasad will deliver the verdict on Thursday on the PILs filed by Youth for Equality (a civic society), Akhilesh Kumar and Muskan Kumari.
Advocate general (AG) P K Shahi on Wednesday submitted that the caste-based survey is essential for identifying the weaker sections, who are under-represented in the realms of polity and economy. Under the geometrically multiplying population figure of Bihar, a need has arisen for screening out the political representation/participation of every class of people as well their economic and educational strength ranging from ward level of a panchayat to block and district level so that the welfare schemes of government could percolate to the last downtrodden.
Shahi further argued that the information related to name, age, parentage, sex, religion, caste, monthly income and housing/dwelling status of people are no more their private data as they are already in public domain through records of Aadhaar, voter ID and other identity proofs. Hence there is no infringement of the fundamental rights to privacy of any individual by the ongoing caste-based survey.
Relying on the government data and instructions, the AG said people's response to this survey is overwhelming and there is a competition among people for disclosing their castes. There is no murmuring against such a survey except for these public spirited petitioners who have come to the high court challenging the survey. He also opposed the petitioners' plea of questioning the expenses on the caste survey to be met by state's contingency fund by terming it as a policy matter of the government which is utilizing funds for the welfare of people and this is a purely executive domain of government which does not require any judicial interference.
Shahi was assisted by additional AG Anjani Kumar in opposing the PILs.